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Shoeshine & Shinola
Your correspondent is incredibly lazy when it comes to polishing shoes. While in the US, he notices shoeshines in every airport: In France, they're nowhere to be seen.
His battered Church's (the same as Tony Blair's, embarrassingly) were looking unusually scuffed and rather than give them a decent spit and polish job himself, he Googled "Paris Shoeshine" looking for an easy option.
Turns out there's a reason you can't get a decent shoeshine in Paris. And sure enough, it's all about politics.
Roger Cohen reports in the International Herald Tribune that,
"Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of societies: those where you can get a shoe shine and those where you can't.
"France falls into the latter category. Search Paris high and low for a seat to kick back and "se faire cirer les bottes": You'll search in vain.
"There's something about the idea of having someone stooped at the feet of a client applying polish to his or her boots that rubs the Gallic egalitarian spirit the wrong way. It's just not what 1789 was about.
"In the United States, of course, it's a different story. Unlike humor, which is in short supply, or banned, a shoe shine is freely available at U.S. airports. Walk a few Manhattan or Chicago blocks and someone will be there to make your shoes gleam.
"There's something about having someone applying polish to a blithe client's boots that comforts American notions of free enterprise, make-a-buck opportunism and the survival of the fittest.
"But free enterprise is a little suspect in Europe. The Continent prefers free-ish enterprise.
"Germany is much like France in its resistance to the shoe shine. That makes 145 million Europeans or so, spread from Bordeaux to Berlin, with scant access to this particular micro-service. Odd, when you think about it.
"Or perhaps not, for the shoe-shine rule goes something like this: If you can't find one, you are probably in a society with a developed sense of egalitarianism and social solidarity, high taxation, a broad safety net, universal health care, extensive entitlements and high unemployment. Read: A European society like France or Germany.
"If you can find a shoe shine, you're probably in a place with low unemployment and little of the above social security, a place where capitalism is crueler and more vital. A place not unlike America."
What Roger doesn't mention is that a shoeshine culture of sorts does exist in Paris. The dandyish disciples of Italian marque Berluti gather (doubtless on nights of the full moon) to polish the exquisite leather of their favourite shoes with champagne. Not quite what EURSOC was looking for, unfortunately. Wonder how this aristocratic polish fits into Cohen's model?
Please let us know if you can think of a decent shoeshine in Paris!
